India’s de facto ruler, Sonia Gandhi, has warned Pakistan against “taking India’s wish for peace as a sign of weakness” (Dec 22).

Every country in South Asia knows that India is upto scores of times bigger in size and military strength. They have also learned from experience how the giant neighbour throws its weight around. Thus, even the landlocked Nepal was subjected to an economic blockade and Sri Lanka was so worried in the 80’s that it had reportedly asked Britain, China and Pakistan tohelp it in case of an Indian invasion.

Pakistan, too, knows this and much more, having lost its eastern wing primarily due to Indian military might/intervention. So, Mrs Gandhi, everybody around here knows India’s superficial strength. But, what is real power, do you ever try to understand?

True power is what China has been exhibiting in its relations with its South Asian neighbours. When, during the 1962 war with India, it had pushed the Indian army out of the disputed territory, it declared a ceasefire and returned the Indian weapons it had captured, after duly polishing and servicing them! That is what is known as strength.

Standing up fearlessly to a 7 times bigger adversary, as the Pakistanis have been doing for 61 years, is also toughness.

It is not the bullying of weaker countries by holding a gun to their heads, as India does, won’t do. Nor is it the occupation of territories, as New Delhi did in case of Kashmir, Hyderabad, Junagadh, Goa, Sikkum and Siachen Glacier. And by no means is it the stoppage of river waters to Pakistan or Bangladesh either.

The Indian Sufi Hazrat Inayat Khan had explained this in his own wisdom:

“A person in the intoxication of outer power that he possesses overloks the cultivation or the developmnt of inner power, and, depending upon the power that does not belong to him, one day becomes the victim of the very power that he holds… So it is that the heroes, the kings, the emperors, the persons with great power of arms… have become the victim of the very power upon which they always depended.”

Thus, slitting pen the bellies of pregnant Muslim women or burning to death Christian missionaries is not power, any more than holding Kashmiris or Nagas or Naxalite farmers captive at gunpoint your strength. That is why violent protestors or their sympathisers now besiege India.

If India had existed in Euope, would Italy, France, Germany or Britain have allowed it to gobble up slices of their territories? This is something that Mrs Gandhi and the European supporters of India should ponder about. How can China, Pakistan or other regional countries let New Delhi usurp their lands or riverine resources?

Former Indian President Radhakrishnan had said many decades ago: “Our opportunities are great but let me warn you that when power outstrips ability, we will fall on evil ways”.

More poignantly, John Milton had observed: “What is strength without a double share of wisdom? Vast, unwieldy, burdensome, proudly secure, yet liable to fail by weakest subtleties, strength’s not mad to rule, but to subserve, where wisdom bears command”.

The superpower these days is working on its punctured missiles while Pranab Mukherjee is probably gonna be the first missile himself to be fired off the Govt. of India in a very short time. Poor guy’s done a fair lot to discredit Pakistan, however, unfortunately this wasn’t enough for the Mumbai elites who want more “action” from the Indian Govt. to go against Pakistan. By initially blaming Pakistan and later on not being able to prove their claims or substantiate the fake and fictitious evidences, Indian Govt. is in for a rough ride!

Will India launch punitive strike(s) against Pakistan? Highly unlikely. India would have already struck if it had a choice. It doesn’t have a choice for two major reasons:

1. Indians know, they can start a conflict, but where and how the war ends will not be in their control.

2. By tangling themselves in a war, they run a too realistic risk of delivering a mortal blow to their service-based economy, which may not even survive the brinksmanship Indians are engaging in.

Arguably, Indians suffer from the ‘white man’s complex.’ Urbanite Indians love to mimic the American way of life. They imitate the ‘goras’ in ways ranging from their attire to their manner of speech. So much so, they have named Bombay film industry after an American icon, namely the Hollywood. Somewhere during the last decade or so, Indians became so engrossed with the ‘gora complex’ that they began imagining India to be an economical powerhouse and military superpower equating the Americans. Perhaps, it’s this complex which sullied the better judgment of Indian urbanites and their media in demanding punitive strikes against Pakistan.

Nevertheless, after the initial hysteria will ware down, at least some sane Indians will ask, if India could afford such an arrogant behavior? That when the reality will hit them rudely, like ton of bricks, that neither India is America nor Pakistan is Afghanistan.

Despite the ferocious appearance of the Indian military, largely on paper; the fact remains, over 80% of its obsolete hardware is a carryover from the Soviet-era. Indian handicap of obsolete hardware was highlighted during the 2002 India-Pakistan standoff. It was a humiliating experience for the Indians. Operation Parakram cost India about $2 billion in cash and 798 in human cost, and that too without a single shot fired from the Pakistani side.

It was also a disastrous Indian deployment, because even after one year of hostile posturing, they could not cross the border, fearing an all out war ending in a nuclear exchange. That is when India truly lost its supposed conventional superiority over Pakistan. The humiliating pull back effectively closed the doors on India for any future conventional war endeavors; because Pakistani nuclear arsenal was here to stay. However, during the same time Pakistanis were modernizing its arsenal through the rapid induction of modern weaponry like F-17 fighters and precision weapons like the Hatf-8 cruise missiles.

Since then, India has dabbled with nonstarters, like ‘cold start’ doctrine. The idea was to catch Pakistan off-guard by sending a comparatively smaller but highly mobile force across the border at a moment’s notice. It was a nonstarter because of Pakistani equalizer (its nukes); plus they realized they would still have to deploy a considerable amount of logistics and men at the front positions, where they would have remained juicy sitting-ducks for the preemptive PAF air strikes.

The other reason India cannot afford a war with Pakistan is, its economy is too young and still too small to survive through a round of war. Regardless, the havoc it will run on the already distressed Pakistani economy, the war will for sure spell an end to the largely service-based economy, which depends on the foreign investments; and the foreign investments inherently depend on peace driven stability.

A brief look will abundantly expose the facade of the Indian economy; which will collapse at the first signs of uncertainty or instability. In 2008, its external debts increased to around $221 billion. In 2007, Indian exports stood around $145 billion, while imports were around $217 billion; a deficit of $72 billion in a single year.

Its factory output account for 27.6% of the GDP and employs 17% of the total workforce. Rest of the workforce is largely dedicated to the agriculture sector. According to a 2008 World Bank report, 75.6% Indians live on less than $2 per day. It suffers from higher rates of malnutrition than Sub-Saharan Africa. Over 70% its population is either illiterate or educated below the primary level. Indian tourist industry is 1/6 of Las Vegas. Recently, Standard & Poor’s announced, India risk a downgrade from BBB-minus rating to the lowest investment-grade rating. Clearly, Indians are hardly in a financial shape to even contemplate on waging a war.

Indian service industry accounts for over 55% of its GDP. Bangalore is called the Silicon Valley of India. A large number of Information Technology companies are located in the city. It is the largest contributor of India’s $33 billion IT exports (2007). IT giants like Infosys and Wipro are headquartered in Bangalore. Other undertakings headquartered in Bangalore are Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to name the few.

Bangalore is also called the world’s call-centre capital. Foreign IT giants like the IBM, Microsoft, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Apple and Cisco have also heavily invested in the city by opening call centers there. These call centers bring in major amounts of service-generated foreign revenues. Their 24/7 operations provide the customer support throughout the globe. An interruption of operations for even for a single day could mean loss of millions of dollars for the foreign investors.

As ugly as it may sound, but that’s what wars are, brutal and ugly. Imagine: far short of nuclear strike, only a couple of bombs or Shaheen-II (with an accuracy of 200m) armed with conventional warheads are dropped on the outskirts of Bangalore. Will even a single foreign company think twice before closing their operations for good? Would they stay around to see if they will get lucky during second round too?

Feel-good slogans like ‘shining India’ don’t help the arrogance clouding the good judgment war-mongering Indians. They can try to start a war on their terms, but it will definitely not end at their terms. Unless India has somehow overcome their fear of far-superior Pakistani nuclear arsenal, or they have found a way to move whole India under kilometer deep nuke-proof shelters, it will not dare to start a war.

General Kiyani is said to have responded with showing Mullen a photograph of an IAF Mirage-2000 locked by Pakistan Air Forces’ F-16 taken on December 13th. ‘Next time, we’ll bring it down’, Mullen was told.

To make sure the message was loud and clear, Pakistan Air Force jets started patrolling the skies in hot mode and a red-alert was issued througout the country.

Picture: The defeated Mukherjee.

With India and Pakistan standing eyeball to eyeball, it was India who blinked first, with its media and officials admitting defeat on the diplomatic front.

While the de-escalation should soothe the tense nerves of the international community, it was being feared that Islamabad, by raising the bogey of war, may have edged out India’s concerns. By feeding fears of an imminent conflict between two nuclear-armed rivals, it had ensured that the focus would shift towards conflict prevention. Indian security experts noted that Gilani made it a point to mention that “our friends are persuading India against aggression”.

While the government persisted with reminders to Islamabad about unkept promises, independent security experts sid Pakistan may have got away with almost no cost at all. “As of now, Pakistan has managed to divert attention from the Mumbai attacks to an India-Pak conflict,” said K Subrahmanyam.

It was diplomacy by fear, and Pakistan played it effectively. As it allowed passions to run high and let known terrorists join in the show of national belligerence, it was also playing victim. As part of the script, its foreign secretary, it now turns out, even summoned the Indian high commissioner in Islamabad, Satyabrata Pal, on Friday to lecture him on the need for India to bring down tensions.

The US and China had on Friday asked India – in a clear sign of Pakistan’s success – to engage in a dialogue with Pakistan. It’s becoming increasingly evident that India has so far nothing to show for all its diplomatic offensive in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks.

How could things have gone so wrong, wonders Vir Sanghvi of the Hindustan Times:

I am now coming round to the view that they’ve only gone wrong for us. They’ve gone very right for Pakistan. Islamabad has got exactly what it needs, and what it always wanted.

Consider what’s happening today. The operation in the tribal areas has stalled. The Taliban have sworn to back the Pakistan army against India. Troops have been moved to the Indian border. The incoming Obama administration is talking about appointing a special envoy for India and Pakistan.

And forget about acting against those who organised the Bombay attacks. Pakistan isn’t even willing to hand over Dawood Ibrahim or Masood Azhar. Moreover, Washington seems largely content with this state of affairs.

I don’t want to sound like a pessimist or a war-monger — especially since I have always applauded New Delhi’s moderation and restraint — but it is beginning to seem to me that Pakistan has out-manoeuvered both India and America.

By gently holding out the threat to the US that the Afghan operations would grievously suffer unless Washington restrained Delhi from precipitating any tensions on the India-Pakistan border, Islamabad seems to have neatly pole-vaulted over Rice to appeal straight to the Pentagon, where there is abiding camaraderie towards the Pakistani generals.

With Pakistan’s recalcitrance and Mullen’s veiled threat of reopening the Kashmir file, a sense of frustration is gripping Delhi. Pakistan has ignored India’s tough posturing. The faltering Indian security agencies, which have been in a state of appalling decline in recent years, seem to have failed to put together any hard evidence of a Pakistani involvement in the Mumbai attacks.

All indications are that Pakistan is not impressed by the Indian rhetoric. It seems to think Indian politicians are grandstanding in an election year. But, just in case Delhi may spring a surprise, Pakistani army chief General Ashfaq Kiani has warned that the armed forces would give an equal response “within few minutes” if India carried out any surgical military strikes. “The armed forces are fully prepared to meet any eventuality, and the men are ready to sacrifice for their country,” he reportedly said.

Just as we predicted, an all out war seems to have been averted and Indian media and officials are admitting defeat.

China, Saudi Arabia and Iran have come out strongly in the last couple of days which saw an intense diplomatic effort by all parties to make it clear to India that they not only remain unconvinced of Delhi’s allegations, but also that any attack could have serious consequences for India and the region as a whole.

Pranab Mukherjee was made to do an embarassing u-turn on India’s previous stance previously, admitting that terrorism – a global issue and not a bilateral one – should be fought jointly.

The Indian officials have also been made to back-track from their earlier claims of deploying troops along the border with Pakistan.

Times of India, December 22nd:Even as India refused to take the military option off the table while asking Pakistan to rein in the terrorists, the Indian Army’s and IAF’s quick reaction teams (QRTs) were deployed along the borders in the Western Sector.

“Runways, hangars, main roads, ammunition stores and other sensitive places have been provided with additional cover. Sophisticated radars are installed at a few air bases and we are keeping watch on each and every cross-border activity,” said an IAF personnel.

Indian forces were on regular firing exercises at locations like Lathi Firing Range in Jaisalmer, Mahsan in Bikaner, Suratgarh and Ganganagar.

In response to the ‘deadline’ set by India and the threats from Sonia Gandhi and Pranab Mukherjee, Pakistan had gone on a diplomatic counter-offensive, briefing world powers and countries in the region on the deteriorating relations with India and the steps taken by it to address Indian concerns. Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir met ambassadors of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — the US, Britain , China , France and Russia . He also met ambassadors of Italy , Japan , Germany , Saudi Arabia , Iran and Turkey soon after returning from France where he had gone for annual bilateral consultations. However, his most crucial meeting was with Indian High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal at the Foreign Office when he said that India should defuse tension.

Mr Pal was accompanied by his deputy Manpreet Vohra. The Indian side was categorically told that any ‘surgical strikes’ would be considered a declaration of war. India was urged to respond to Pakistan ’s proposal for joint investigation into the Mumbai attacks.

According to sources, the Indian diplomats looked sombre when they came out of the meeting.

As things stand, the possibility of war has been averted for now in which is being seen as a massive diplomatic victory for Pakistan.

This of course does not mean that we should let our guard down. In addition to the diplomatic counter-offensive, it was Pakistan Army’s seriousness that put India on the backfoot.

Once the realization set in that any further attempts to enter Pakistan Airspace will be punished severely by the PAF, the Indians had gone to plan B, with Mullen asking for a guarantee that PAF will not respond to Indian surgical strikes.

General Kiyani is said to have responded with showing Mullen a photograph of an IAF Mirage-2000 locked by Pakistan Air Forces’ F-16 taken on December 13th. ‘Next time, we’ll bring it down’, Mullen was told.

To make sure the message was loud and clear, Pakistan Air Force jets started patrolling the skies in hot mode and a red-alert was issued througout the country.

Failing to get that guarantee, the chance of an Indian strike was reduced significantly. For them it was never about a full war. A few surgical strikes on pre-agreed locations would have been enough to relieve some of the pressure the Indian Government faces domestically. Pakistan Army on the other hand made it clear that any action from India would be taken as a declaration of war, and the response would be swift and decisive.

India faces humiliation now on the diplomatic front having failed to achieve anything from this standoff.

In its attempts to isolate Pakistan by building what it saw as a definitive case, it is India that stands alone on the diplomatic front and is left with begging the Iranians and Chinese to put pressure on Pakistan.

We can now expect an intense and sustained terrorism campaign in Pakistani cities in an attempt to destabilize the country along ethnic / sectarian lines – New Delhi’s time-tested method.

On the diplomatic front India will be lobbying hard to have the ISI (and Pakistan Army) declared as terrorist organisations.

We can also not rule out another false flag attack in the next few weeks.

Pakistan needs to stay united.

Its not over yet.

Courtesy: PKKH.

Admin’s comment: India as usual under-estimated Pakistan, by threatening Pakistani Govt. of dire consequences soon after the Mumbai operation was carried out. Pakistan luckily had a rather castrated set of people running the state of affairs at the presidency. They bowed down to Indian pressure and began pursuing the path to destruction on Indian dictation. Pretty soon however, Indian Airforce made the mistake of provoking the Pakistan Army, that was simply observing the whole drama from the pavillion. When provoked, Pakistan Army came to the rescue and thrust behind these bloody politicians and locked horns with Indian forces, which after witnessing Pakistani muscle couldn’t do much except wet their pants. This led to the final results of this whole drama causing the barking from Indian side to be silenced as their Defence Minister made a conclusive statement that has been discussed in the article above.

General Rtd. Aslam Baig has said that US General Mullen is pressing our authorities to allow India to hit certain targets, keeping silent and indifferent to the situation as they have been doing in case of US drone attacks, which he believes, will cool down India and diffuse tensions between the two countries.

“I don’t think that conscientious Pakistani nation and brave armed forces of Pakistan will accept such a situation. This will be shameful and render Pakistan’s submission to India,” the retired General said.

He called upon the rulers to explain their position in this regard. He said that the US was after ridiculing the sovereignty of Pakistan only to please India and Mullen had come with a dangerous message.

UPDATE: Reports coming in from variuos sources suggest that COAS Gen. Kiyani made it clear yesterday that regardless of how the civilan government chooses to respond to the US request to allow Indian ‘surgical strikes’, Pakistan Army will not accept any Indian intrusion. The scrambling of jets over Lahore and Islamabad yesterday was part of this and the armed forces are alert and ready to defend against any Indian action.

Kiyani is also said to have told US Michael Mullen that in event of any aggression from India, the US and NATO can ‘forget about’ using Pakistan territory to supply their forces in Afghanistan as all resources will be diverted to defending against India on the eastern border.

“The armed forces are fully prepared to meet any eventuality, as his men are ready to sacrifice for their country,” General Kiyani told the Zardari Govt. yesterday in a meeting where he also stressed that any further buckling under mounting Indian pressure would prove counter-productive in the sense that it would further encourage New Delhi to build up pressure on Islamabad.

Pakistan would respond “within minutes” in the event of surgical strikes by India, he added.

Courtesy: PKKH

We started counting our days long time ago. But we didn’t know India would invite us to give a reason to take her down with us. Bravo India! Only to appease the 4% in Mumbai, you’re taking the rest of the 96% down by triggering the Pakistani nation – which has never taken pride in anything except in teaching the Hindu zionists a lesson. We’re ready to teach you the lesson once again, that you’ve forgotten in less than half a century.

In other words: Finally Master Yoda(Gen Kiyani) has responded to the verbal aggression of the Dark Lord(Hindu Zionist Military).

Master Yoda in his recent statement has said, and I quote: “a wrong direction the dark forces have taken. Teach them a lasting lesson, we will!”

ADL of B’nai B’rith censors YouTube video

by
Ernesto Cienfuegos
La Voz de Aztlan

Los Angeles, Alta California – October 7, 2008 – (ACN) The New York Times published a statement by the director of the ADL of B’nai B’rith, Abraham Foxman, reporting that many Americans are blaming the Jewish lobby and Israel for the current catastrophic financial crisis affecting the USA and the world.

Abraham Foxman’s report mentions the now bankrupt Jewish firm Lehman Brothers. CEO Richard Fuld, who is a Jew, was recently punched in the face by an angry American who lost all of his retirement savings when Fuld declared the firm bankrupt. Richard Fuld, however, took home an estimated $450 million dollars in compensation.

Foxman also mentions two other Jews that have been criticized by Americans for having had a major part in the crisis. They are the present and former Chairmen of the Federal Reserve Board Ben Bernanke and Allan Greenspan.

The Federal Reserve is a private cartel of banks controlled by international Jewish families say the Americans who are blaming the Jewish lobby and Israel for the financial crisis. The Federal Reserve was given the exclusive right to create and print money by the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. These Americans say that the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 was the creation of New York “banksters” and approved by crooked congressmen in the pockets of the Jews.

Abraham Foxman quotes one American as saying While pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into a rescue package, US President George W. Bush has remained silent about the Jewish lobby that put the US banking and financial sector into place. The Jewish lobby controls the US elections and defines the foreign policy of any new administration in a manner that allows it to retain control of the American government and economy.

Many Americans also criticize the Jewish lobby, whose principal tool is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), for each year ordering the US Congress to approve multi-billion dollar aid packages for Israel. Much of this aid is in the form of military weapons but some is to fund the Orthodox school system, including yeshivas and kollels. Kollels are yeshivas for married rabbis who do not work. American taxpayer monies are used as welfare benefits for these rabbis and their families. Many of these rabbis can be seen every day weaving their heads back and forth in front of the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

One prominent American who is very critical of the Jewish run Federal Reserve Board is Congressman Ron Paul of Texas. He says the Federal Reserve Board is a big scam and should be abolished. He is continously making efforts to educate the American public on the US monetary system — who controls it and how. He oftens talks about how the Federal Reserve Board creates money out of thin air, on the concept of charging interest on money loaned and on the effects of inflation on savings. Of these, inflation is the most sinister. The $700 billion dollar bailout of Wall Street and banks is going to have a devastating effect on all savings deposits. The Federal Reserve is going to print $700 billion dollars and add that amount to the total money supply in circulation. This means that if you have $10,000 dollars in a savings account today, in a few months it may only be worth $7,000 in terms of the goods you can buy. The $3,000 that disappeared is the essence of the scam.

Abraham Foxman of the ADL of B’nai B’rith was also instrumental in having YouTube and other Internet services remove a certain video critical of the Jewish lobby from their servers. This attests to the power and influence this organization has in the USA and throughout the world. This is pure censorship of information and ideas. If video recorders were available in the time of Jesus Christ and someone recorded Jesus kicking out the “money lenders” from the Temple, would the ADL censor the video if it was being shown on YouTube?

This, when coming from Muslim Ulema falls on deaf ears especially when the self-proclaimed “intellects” out of today’s Muslims hear it, and the Ulema are taunted for that. There are other sources too that blame the jews for whats going on. Anyways, i’m sharing this here just FYI… Would love to hear your comments…

On the 11th of September, 2001, two planes crashed into the World Trade Center twin towers. Initially it was termed as an “attack on the United States” by the Bush Administration. President George Bush was sitting in a school reading a kindergarten book. He was twice informed by the FBI officials about the incident, but he ignored it as if nothing had happened, or to be precise, as if he knew it was about to happen. The 9/11 accident was played as the TRUMP CARD or WILD CARD by the Bush Administration in order to fulfil their ulterior motives of attacking Afghanistan and Iraq. Even though later on it was proved by several private think-tanks that the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated by Bush himself with the help of his powerful friends including those heading the country’s most sophisticated institutions like the CIA and FBI. A simple question one would ask is that how an aeroplane despite being deviated from its defined path for more than half an hour could not be traced out and shot down by the Guardian agencies of the world’s most advanced state? Simple answer: They ignored it on purpose. Later on, Bush managed to convince the public of the United States that the terrorists were in Afghanistan and 3 years later, more terrorists and WMDs eventually turned out to be in Iraq —- and now 7 years later, consequently, the same terrorists that attacked the US on 9/11 2001 have somehow ended up in Pakistan. Wow, what a plan! Worked well on the American population! All Bush had to do to convince the innocent American population was that it was “Al-Qaeda” that carried out the 9/11 and so he needed to send troops to Afghanistan to finish them off, and the whole US population, in a state of shock, developed a sense of hatred for people who they or the rest of the world had ever heard of, and agreed to pay the “war on terror tax” to the American Govt. through which they licensed the US Army to cluster-bomb a nation. When the non-armed casualties began to exceed those of militants, the US Army made lame excuses and said it was faulty intelligence… In Iraq, 90% of those killed were those innocent citizens of Iraq who had nothing to do with Saddam Hussain or any of his rookies. The US Army indiscriminately entered houses of plain citizens and strip searched every man and woman, without any warrant… —- Did some one ever wonder what kind of an event would give such authority to any country’s army to enter wherever they like, destroy whatever they like, and rip the innocent & respected people off their dignity?; let alone the war crimes conducted by the US Army during the past 7 years. It was the 9/11 trump card.

A similar trump card was played by the Zardari administration last night, in order to root out the islamization taking place in Pakistan. The unknown “terrorists” have been blamed for the attacks. When the word “terrorist” is announced, the picture of a man with a beard pops up to mind – thanks to the media, which portrayed all those with beards as militants and terrorists – though i agree, and sad as it may seem, there are but several “bearded” agents working inside Pakistan, who are on the payroll of international agencies – working in Pakistan to destabilise it, and to disrupt the harmony between its people. One such example is Baitullah Mehsud, who was released from Guantanamo Bay prison with a motive, and he is carrying out his American motives exactly as they had asked him to. He has preached to the people to stand up against their own Muslim/Pakistani brothers. To fight the Pakistan Army, the Army that has been guarding the Pakistani homeland since before he was even born. However, i will not blame any such anti-Pakistan elements for yesterday’s attacks, instead, i will blame the administration of Islamabad for having such poor security in one of the most high-alert regions of Islamabad, where a truck laden with a TON of highly explosive material could get through all the way to Marriott! What a shame!! The consequences of this attack are going to be far more adverse than our present leaders can possibly imagine. They simply allowed it to be carried out because they are there to follow orders. Today both RAW and CIA are jointly working in Pakistan to destabilise, to shake it from every possible corner, however, unfortunately, we have amongst ourselves the traitors who allow this to happen, whose only faiths lie in Dollars, not in Islam or Pakistan. I truly hope that the true-lovers of Pakistan, the intelligence agencies of Pakistan, will not blindly follow the path showed by the Americans and will, in all seriousness find out the actual group of people that authorised this attack and tell the Pakistan people that they still have some reliable people sitting in the upper offices, who are NOT on foreign payroll, who can put traitors to task and punish them, remember, the traitor this time is not of ground level like Mehsud, not some bearded militant, but one that is on a foreign payroll, is powerful and knows whats going on at the inside, has authority to knock-off security in the high-alert areas of Islamabad, it is someone within the establishment.

MIRAMSHAH, Sept 13: The Pakistan Air Force started reconaissance flights in areas on the border with Afghanistan on Saturday in the wake of increased airspace violations by US drones and incursions by coalition forces into tribal areas.

A US spy plane was seen in the skies above North Waziristan earlier during the day, but it disappeared as soon as Pakistani fighters appeared. The jets, which were seen for the first time after a series of US attacks in the tribal belt, reconnoitred the region for an hour.

A few words of my own: Welcome to life our long awaited friends of the Pakistan Air Force! Personally, i’ve never been to FATA nor do i find any reason to ever go there, but i do know that FATA is a part of a Sovereign Country, our Country, our beloved Pakistan. And that NO ONE, and i repeat, NO ONE from outside Pakistan has the right, nor should have the guts, to enter Pakistan and attack its soil.

USA should intensify the diplomacy talks with Pakistan and should understand, like a grown up, that Pakistan itself is facing strong militancy, which is a serious threat to its national security – and additionally, if the US starts attacking militant targets inside Pakistan, it will be crossing the line. Instability in Pakistan won’t do good to any one in the region, but will have bad outcomes for all – cuz Pakistan unlike Afghanistan and Iraq is an entirely different nation, and if you’re playing with Pakistan, means you’re willingly pulling the trigger to World War-III. So all those buggers in the US who think attacking Pakistan is a solution, must be pre-informed that they shall be held responsible for the huge destruction that the world will have to face in the form of World War-III. So once again I say to every one in the world, and ofcourse to all the Pakistanis whether they’re American born or British born: “Save Pakistan, save the World!”.

BEIJING, Jan 20: China fears containment abroad and separatist groups at home, a defence policy paper said, justifying a drive to increase military spending and push the People’s Liberation Army into the high-tech era.

China’s security has been improving as its economy grows and the PLA embraces modernisation, the defence “white paper” said, but pro-independence forces in Taiwan, Tibet and the energy-rich western region of Xinjiang still “pose threats to China’s unity and security”.

“On this issue, there can be no compromise and no concessions,” Defence Minstry chief spokesman Hu Changming said at a news conference to launch the document.

China has pointed to its recent deployment of navy ships to police pirate-troubled seas off Africa as a sign of benign military intentions. Analysts say the mission shows a rising but cautious power’s desire to project its growing global influence without alarming neighbours.

But China’s inceased spending o arms has been criticised as opaque by other countries, including the United States and Japan.

Beijing says its defence budget is purely for defensive purposes and is quite open, and it notes its budget is much smaller than Pentagon’s. Experts estimate China’s true defence spending could be as much as triple the stated figure.

“China is faced with superiority of developed countries economically, scientifically and technologically, as well as militarily,” the 95-page white paper said.

“It also faces strategic manoeuvres and containment from the outside wile having to face disruption and sabotage by separatist and hostile forces from the inside.”

China has long feared being surounded by hostile forces on its extensive borders, whether by Russia in the north and west, India to the southwest or allies of the USA in the east, including South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.

The US Defence Department budget for fiscal 2009 is $515 billion, a 7.5 percent rise on the previous year. That number does not include separate multi-billion dollar outlays for Iraq and Afghanistan and some spending on nuclear weapons.

China’s defence budget for 2009 has not been released. In 2008, the government said it would spend 418 billion yuan ($61 billion) on defence, up 17.6 percent on 2007.

News reports are suggesting that no Islamic financial institution has failed n the credit crisis, while unprecedented bailout packages have been put together to deal with the systemic threat posed by the falling conventional financial institutions.

Not that Islamic financial institutions have been unaffected by grim market conditions – after all, they are subject to the same economic environment as conventional financial institutions. Still, years of double digit growth and lack of a bakruptcy in the current market conditions have produced optimism in Islamic finance circles and this optimism is being reflected in some press statements made by Islamic economists highlighting its virtues.

But does this survival mean that the youthful Islamic finance is now ready to shine and influence the thinking in the established conventional finance? Perhaps not. There are three simple arguments to suggest that in order to influence the thinking in conventional finance, Islamic finance needs to do a lot more than surviving the crisis.

First, despite the havoc wreaked by the credit crisis, conventional finance has not been pushed to the point of re-thinking its fundamentals. While experts are identifying a wide range of causes behind the credit crisis, they are not saying that there is something inherently wrong with either money lending or trading risk through derivatives. In fact, mainstream thought in conventional finance is perhaps more concerned with the possibility of over regulation of markets rather than re-writing the text book.

Contrast conventional finance with mainstream Islamic finance that prohibits money lending and trading of risk, requires all trading to be based on real goods and services, and prefers risk-reward sharing contracts. These prohibitions and requirements are an important reason why Islamic financial institutions did not invest in the products that have hurt their conventional counterparts. But that does not mean that conventional finance is now going to be more favourably disposed to such prohibitions nor should the need for excess liquidity in the oil-rich Arab countries be confused with a desire to learn from Islamic finance.

To influence the thinking in conventional finance, Islamic finance cannot rely on a favourable setting produced by the current crisis. It needs to come up with empirical evidence to prove that the costs of money lending and derivatives outweigh their benefits.

While some empirical evidence against money lending is perhaps already there for debt and poverty in developing countries, the challenge is to put it in the Islamic finance context and also come up with evidence in corporate and consumer lending. Unless modern research methods are used to back up the arguments, it is unlikely that conventional finance would be willing to consider learning from Islamic finance.

Second, the Islamic finance industry needs to establish a track record that it can employ to influence the thinking in conventional finance. Modern Islamic finance is less than forty years old and estimates of its global total assets tend not to exceed $1 trillion whereas the asset of a large conventional bank could be more.

While the share of Islamic finance varies significantly across countries, so far in no country is Islamic finance being associated with a positive impact on economic development which was not acheived by conventional finance. On the other hand, Islamic finance remains subject to fierce criticism for putting form over substance.

For instance, critics of Islamic finance say that some Islamic banks effectvely lend money on interest through Tawarruq, where the bank first purchases a commodity with a stable price from a roker on spot, sells it to the customer on credit, who in turn immediately sells it on spot to realise the proceeds. The purchases and sales are done instantaneously and none of the parties needs the undrlying commodity making the trasactions look like a meaningless ritual.

Similarly, the tendency in Islamic financehas been to replicate conventional financial products, sometimes by increasingly liberal interpretations of Shari’ah. Thus many consider Shari’ah compliance to be a question of structuring the desired form rather than a change in substance. Take for instace the market for Sukuk (often called the Islamic bonds). Some of underlying structures in Sukukhad become so dangerously close to conventional bonds that the influential and conservative Islamic finance scholar from Pakistan, Maulana Taqi Usmani, had to issue a biting critique that shook the Sukuk market.

Still, it is not difficult to find those who justify the inclusion of conventional derivatives in Islamic financ or defend controversial practices like Tawarruq. Clearl, replicating conventional products and structures in this manner is not the way to teach a lesson to conventional finance.

Third, many underlying causes for the credit crisis are problems of governance which are not unique to conventional finance. Decision-makers – whether mortgage brokers, credit rating agencies, the US legislature, regulators, or others – were either unable or unwilling to exercise independent judgement due to conflicts of interest. These governance challenges are clearly relevant for Islamic finance.
Take the case of Shari’ah supervisory Boards that rule whether a product or service is permissibe or not. Ordinary Muslims have high, and at times unmet, expectations of wisdom and piety from the scholars serving on these boards. Given the potentially large compensation of scholars, the Shari’ah Supervisory Boards are subject to conflicts of interest and critics have been hitting them hard.

Mahmoud El-Gamal, a professor Rice University in the US, charges the scholars with promoting “rent seeking Shari’ah arbitrage” and earning large sums for themselves. Products approved as Shari’ahcompliant by some boards have later been criticised for lack of such compliance. Still, we are yet to see a systematic response based on transparency and accountability to such criticism. And the conflict of interest in Shari’ah supervisory boards is not the only governance issue being faced by Islamic finance.

There is cynicism that given the general lack of good governance in many countries with large Muslim populations – not unlike other developing countries – Islamic finance ay not be able to break free and chart a course of success of its own. In an environment that does not foster trust or enforce contracts, investments based on risk-reward sharing – the essence of Islamic finance – are unlikely to compete effectively with collateralised money lending.

In sum, despite the credit crisis, conventional finance remains unlikely to reconsider its fundamentals and Islamic finance needs research, genuine risk-reward sharing, and a track record of success to be able to influence the thinking in conventional finance.

India’s stand fraught with risks: Zardari

The government ’emphatically rejected’ on Tuesday an allegation by Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh that Pakistan was involved in sponsoring terrorism in India.

It said India had embarked on a ‘propaganda offensive’ and such allegations would jeopardise chances of cooperation against terrorism.

According to sources, the Indian allegations were rejected during a meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani held soon after Dr Singh’s statement on Tuesday.

Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mehmood Ahmed also called on the president and toldhim that Pakistan Air Force (PAF) was capable of foiling any aggression.

President Zardari urged the Indian leadership to refrain from hurling allegations about involvement of official agencies in the Mumbai attacks, because this could only escalate tension.

He said Pakistan would itself take action against ‘non-state actors’ involved in the Mumbai carnage and there was no question of their extradition to India.

Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq quoted President Zardari as saying: “Instead of responding positively to Pakistan’s offer of cooperation and constructive proposals, India has chosen to embark on a propaganda offensive. The approach is fraught with grave risks.”

“Vilifying Pakistan, or for that matter any of its state institutions, on this score is unwarranted and unacceptable. This is a sure way to close avenues of cooperation in combating the menace (of terrorism),” the spokesman said at a briefing.

“It will not only ratchet up tensions, but occlude facts and destroy all prospects of serious and objective investigations into the Mumbai attacks,” he said.

He said the Indian approach would vitiate the situation in South Asia.

“Only yesterday, the government of India was advised not to embark on political point-scoring. Regrettably this advice has not been heeded,” he said.

The spokesman said that Pakistan was a victim of terrorism and this pernicious phenomenon was regionally pervasive.

“Pakistan has suffered more terror attacks than India. But we have not lost our equanimity,” he said.

Mr Sadiq said Pakistan did not sponsor terrorism. “Our civillian and armed forces’ casualties over the past year in terror attacks and in countering terrorism have been far more than those of India.” He said several South Asian states had been victims of all kinds and manifestations of terrorism.

The Government of Pakistan expects the Government of India to demonstrate restraint and responsibility. The policy of casting accusations without uncovering full facts and even while the investigations are still continuing is irresponsible.

“Pakistan strongly rejects efforts at political and military coercion which are counter-productive. India must refrain from hostile propaganda and must not whip up tensions. It must also take steps to de-escalate its offensive military posture against Pakistan,” he said.

“We need no exhortations from India. Indian government is well advised to take careful stock of its own policies and conduct that are contributory to the problems facing South Asia,” he said.